I'm trying to do something to NOT work at the moment, so I decided that it is a good time to do a little cleaning of the place where I paint and - sometimes - work. I de-rubbled some of the worst things on my desk (killing some alien civilization hiding in forgotten cup of the coke, entering in the stage of interstellar voyages in the proccess). I think that after publishing these photos I will be obliged by myself to do a proper cleaning of my "man's cave". My workplace is in a kind of temporary setup right now, I want to change some of the tables and shelves and get more place thanks to that. But it looks like it is visible below right now.

Photo on the left side shows general view from the entrance to my room. There is a table here, where my shadowless tent is permamently set-up (done by myself, price was 0, time to complete about 10 minutes). There is large part of my Vampire Army visible here too and one of my paints shelf. Second picture was taken when I was coming closer to the desk - it shows inside of the tent and both of my paints shelves. They are main subject of the rightmost picture. They holds about half of my paints, ones I use most ofthen. I have them on my left side, in hands reach, when I paint.

First picture shows the view I have looking at the paint shelves and the table with miniatures. Middle picture shows general view of my small desk (cleaned a little bit). I hold here some paints used during painting of my current project, most of the tools and computer mouse and keyboard. Rightmost picture is a shelf (well, actually upper part of the shelf) with my basic modelling materials, some miniatures, bases, etc. Lower two shelves (not visible here) holds part of my collection of source materials, modelling magazines, etc. Net covers my ASG gun. What is not visible on the pictures are my other shelves hanging on both sides of the room. They hold rest of my collection of games, rulebooks, figures, gaming and modelling magazines, historical books, etc.

Second little zombie, just a little less rotten (and gnawed on by rats I presume). Painting was done in exactly the same manner as with previous miniature. I used loincloth to brighten this zombie. Figure is really nice, rather detailed, great oppurtunity to practice painting of bones, muscles and skin tones. Unbelievable, how delicate are some of the details - remember - all these zombies were made 20 and more years ago. I don't even want to know how long they were sculpted. On the other hand, most of these fine details (small wounds, muscles fibres, broken jaw) - won't be noticeable by most of the gamers.

First of the 40 or 50 old zombies for Warhammer which I own. It was painted over a week ago together with four others but I have had to wait for a new matt spray to make some photos. When I basecoated this miniature I was a little worried about painting. It looked as rather complicated, as miniature is very detailed and most of the details are fragments of flesh hangin off the bones, muscles, etc. Difficult to see and paint. But painting was rather easy I think. All details are very well thought off, they are in logical places and in layers (bones, rotten muscles and skin, some clothes). It was just a matter of finding bones (in deepest areas of miniatures) and start painting upwards. I just had to paint carefully basic colors and then dip. Strong shade of the dip works exceptionally well with this kind of figure. It defines bones, helps to shade skin (and belive me, it is full of subtle details) and greatly enhances look of rotten meat. As the figure itself is so detailed I spent more time then usual on highlights. Final result is a little washed maybe but next miniatures in line have much more reds and purples. I think it looks decent. It's a pity though that miniature like this one, requiring realtively lots of work to paint, is such horrible in game and one has to paint LOTS AND LOTS of them to field them in proper way. Well, dip certainly makes it easier.

Title of the note is a little misleading as it certainly isn't my last Mexican but - first - it has right connotation, second - it is my last wild west miniature I've got in my home unpainted yet. I'm really proud of myself - all my miniatures for planned wild west skirmish game are painted as soon as they are bought so far. Guy on the photo below is a quintesennce of mexicanity. Poncho? Check. Sombrero? Check. Full size moustache? Check. Angry face? Check. This is another Artizan Design miniature in my collection and like all previous ones it painted really fast as it has just a right amount of details, and technique used was "dip and highlight". Unfortunately, this is second (and last so far) miniature with white artefacts visible made after spraying it with a matt spray on the outside instead of garage...

Next addition to my Mexican gang - maybe not Mexican per se, but outlaw for sure. Painting was done, as with all my 28 mm lately - with dip and highlights. It was really fast job but final outcome is satisfying for me. Well, it was satisfying - I chose to matt spray it outside my home instead of usual garage and it shows - there are few white artefacts from humidity visible. It is a lesson to be learned - next time do it in the garagae, as usual. Miniature by Artizan Designs, sculpt is rather simple but it is nice I think. I like hand reaching to the holster and moustache under the rather big nose the most.

Next issue of "Kolekcja Wozów Bojowych" will describe German 20 mm antiaircraft guns on tank chassis from the Second World War. Ready made diecast model of Sd.Kfz. 140 Flakpanzer 38(t) Gepard will be bundled with the magazine.

Nubians served in the New Kingdom armies as mercenaries, but - more then likely - they were just prisoners of war pressed into service and preferring it then slavery. In each of egyptian "corps" there were units of archers from Nubia, fightning as a coherent units. This element represents such a unit. I'm not entirely happy with both miniatures and painting. All of these figures are identical, they are wearing egyptian loinclothes (according to sources they should be wearing animal skins I think). I slightly changed they look, bending some arms and feathers. Sculpt is unfortunately very shallow, which makes painting them really hard. Well, they are ready, at least. I will make one more nubian archers element for New Kingdom army.

Not too much today as I didn't really have time right now to browse the web. As the day of Salute 2011 was coming closer and closer, many manufacturers tried to do something special for this show. Things of interest for me: Perrys brothers announced seven new plastic boxes: austrian infantry 1808-1815, russian infantry in summer dress 1812-1815, prussian reserve infantry 1813-1815, mounted men-at-arms 1450-1500, british infantry from american war of indpendence, ACW confederate infrantry. You can see some 3-ups here. I like mounted men-at-arms most. New plastic boxes will be produced by Warlord Games too - napoleonic russian infantry too and plastic macedonian phalangists.

Black Scorpion Miniatures did something entirely different. New game - Cutlass - with pirates as a main theme. Skirmish, written by Gav Thorp, using entire range of historical and fantasy pirates made by Black Scorpion. I intend to buy some of these miniatures and this rulebook. Photo next to this note is an Orc Admiral by Black Scorpion.

Last but not least - something from Poland. Mordheim in 15 mm by dis. Check it, great buildings and lots of nice ideas.

Fourth variation on dip, Empire and handgunners theme. It looks cool, at least for myself, and certainly paints a lot faster then in a usual way. One can still highlight it and improve much but exactly how much it is just a matter of personal taste. Anyway, I think that even really slow painter - as I am - can paint quite a large 28 mm army in relatively short time. By the way - is it only my impression or these Empire handgunners would look ok as a part of Spanish conquista in a New World?

This is second to last time, I promise:) Third painted old Empire handgunner, in reality model is almost totally the same as the first shown here, just head is different. Painting was done in the same way as two previous miniatures. It is worth to note that these figures, being 15 years old, are still very good. Sculpt is first quality, with very small details, like eyelids, wood grain, very gentle cloth folds. Truly, excellent sculpt. I have to check who sculpted them. One more old handgunner to show and Nubians then.

...just a little better or worse... Announced another Empire handgunner, first of three already painted. I spent a little more time on these three then on first but - I think - it is due more complicated clothes. But it was fast and pleasant anyway. I really like this dip thing. I don't want to be misunderstood - it is still quite a time consuming method, if one wants to makes things a little better after miniature is dipped. Still, miniatures painted in just basic colors, then dipped and matted look quite ok I think. I was a little dissapointed while painting my four handgunners. I was sure I have all eight different metal handgunner miniatures from this old Warhammer edition but... nope. I can't find another four and I start to think that my memory is wrong. Well, I have to buy somewhere lacking four as these old figures and newer ones don't mix very well in one unit.

My Nubians are being worked at - albeit slowly but I wondered yesterday how the Army Painter dip works with miniature much more detailed then my Old West bandits. I have a idea of building small Empire army for WFB for few months, so a miniature of choice for a little experiment was old handgunner, 15 years old I think. This figure is relatively hard to paint due to all the cloth folds and cuts. I decided to paint it in Talabecland colors (red and yellow). Painting was done with basic colors on white undercoat, I didn't even try to reach all deep places - miniature was painted in a little hasty way, I just tried to not paint on already painted areas. It is not too hard to guess that at that stage figure looks like poo. Next phase is dip. I paint it on with a brush - used more then usual as I wanted it to settle deep in numerous folds. Then, after the dip was dry, time for highlights. They were done in extremely crude manner - just basic color (the same as the area was painted before being dipped), then smaller highlights with basic color mixed with lighter shade of it. And that's it. I would be very, very glad if only all my miniatures looked as good as that one. I really think that all my next 28 mm miniatures will be painted with dip. Painting took longer then Mexicans, of course, but miniature itself was much more complicated. Just base colors took roughly twice longer to paint. I think, that by using dip and having some painting experience most of wargamers could paint MUCH, MUCH better then they currently are.

In one of the comments under the previous note, answering for Gonzo's question, I described what is the difference between Army Painter's dip and wash, for example Devlan Mud from GW. I checked it and I'm sure it now. Wash produced by GW, left unattended, tends to flow in unpredictable way. Sometimes it dries on "high ground", sometimes it lefts sharp, visible countour. Dip behaves differently. It flows into every little crevice in the sculpt, pools there and leaves very faint but visible layer on all surfaces. It gives very, very delicate highlight and shadow. It looks, in my opinion, much better. Of course, your mileage may vary - de gustibus non est disputandum.

I promised myself to buy only specific Mexicans miniatures now - mounted or armed with rifles or shotguns. But when I saw this figure, resembling that one guy... I just couldn't resist:) There is nothing really to write about painting, there are just basic colors and Army Painter dip with light highlights. Most time consuming was poncho I guess, I tried to paint some geometric patterns there but it is too folded, final result is just random pattern of lines. There is one new element on the base though. This is a flower made by Fredericus Rex. This is just an ready made grass tuft with "something" added on top on grass blades. As with ordinary tufts by Fredericus Rex using them is much harder then Silfor products. Silfor's ones are made with some kind of soft gellatine as a base, it is easy to press it down (with a tip of the knife or rounded stick) to conform to the textured surface. Fredericus' ones are based on similar but stiff base made with some kind of lacquer, it is really hard to glue it without any gaps between sand on the base and tuft base, still it looks ok.

First base of Egyptian archers for I/22 army. Army list has got two variants, first calls for four, second for three such elements, one have just freedom to choose between three or four miniatures per base. I thought, from purely esthetic reasons, that four miniatures per base will look better and it would be more historically accurate as army of the New Kingdom was known from fielding large archery units. After gluing my miniatures onto the base, I'm not so sure anymore. First, all miniatures are exactly the same. They look a little different but this is due to my "bending" skills;) as I hate this cloned look on the tabletop (anyone remembering this old chaos beastmen regiment in White Dwarf battle reports, made from cheap plastic beastmen with halbards?). With three miniatures on the base this "cloned" look would be, hopefully, not so much visible. Second, painting base itself after glueing miniatures in rather dense formation is really hard. I will decide on some sort of "between" solution perhaps, making another base of 4Bw with Egyptian archers and two 3Bw bases with archers from Nubia. Painting itself was rather fast but boring. I experimented a bit with skin tones and with painting of white linen armours, using different amounts and colors of washes. Finally I concluded that I like Gryphonne Sepia, not Devlan Mud here the best. Devlan Mud turned out much too dark. I highlighted washed areas too, of course. Well, I still find painting good looking white as one of the most challenging tasks. As the miniatures itself are a bit uniform in colors, the only area where I could paint something differently were quivers. So I painted all of them in different leather colors. First, there is one painted in "ordinary" leather color. Three next are made from skin and they are: cow, antillope, zebra.

32nd issue of "Kolekcja wozów bojowych" will be at the stores in few weeks. This time it will describe Russian armoured monster - heavy tank KV-2. History of the the tank, its construcion and war usage will be described in the magazine. Ready made, die-cast model of KV-2 captured by Germans (PzKpfw KV 2 754(r)) will be bundled with the magazine.

Sunday is almost over, entire week has passed before I have noticed that it has begun. It is truly unbelievable how fast time flows... especially when one lacks free time.

Nothing really usefull today, like some guides and how-tos, only things I like and wanted to share. First link leads to a webstore with figures of Polish manufacturer Drabant (among others). They are 40 mm (this scale is slowly growing) and they look great I think. Polish Commonwealth soldiers, some Russians, some others. Take a look, maybe You will find something nice for yourself there. It's a pity that some of these miniatures are not 28 mm, as I would gladly buy them for gaming.

Second link is a blog... gallery of sort of Angelo's from Spain works. Different scales, different periods, many manufacturers. Really nice dioramas, I especially like battle of The Albuela, made with plastic Perry and Victrix miniatures. Picture of this diorama is visible next to this note.

Last link is another webstore, selling resin buildings. They are for dioramas mainly I think as they are very, very detailed. Take a look not only on models currently on sale but these in the gallery, out of production too. Amount of work necessary to build such a master model is really huge.